Happy Labour Day! (J2)

Well, we have Tuesday off, this week! What a great day to have off... you only have to make it through Monday and then you're rewarded with a day off, and then a short week to follow that!

It's Labour Day tomorrow (2nd May), and then we have Ascension Day on the 17th, another day off. What a great month!

I went to my first baby shower in Botswana this weekend, for our neighbour. It was really fun and I had such a great time. Probably the most funny part was where our neighbour, S., told me it was going to start at 10am. She said "the Batswana are normally very late though, so dont worry about coming at 10, come between 10:30 and 11 or something". I did, and I was one of 3 (ex-pats) who arrived around then. The rest trickled in at... oh, somewhere between 1pm and 4:00! I think that's pretty funny. Talk about "botswana time"!!!

S. is going to be having twins in June. A boy and a girl. The girl will be called Zara and the boy Ayden. Lots of excitement next door, coming soon. The shower was your pretty standard American/Australian/South African-style baby shower... eating, presents, a few cheesey games, and overall girly chit chat. I met loads of really really nice ladies and had a great time.

It seems that Autumn in BW lasted a little bit longer than the "3 days" that our friend L. told us it would - actually it turned out that we had a lovely month of autumn. But that seems to be over now. I think it's officially safe to say that winter is well and truly here. We're having cold nights and cold mornings (+/- 5 deg. C), but the funny part is that the days are still balmy and 20 deg C. or so. So basically we've had to formulate a new dressing regime, whereby we start the day off in layers, and proceed to gradually strip throughout the day, ending the afternoon by putting everything back on again. AND, the really big deal of the day is that: I'm wearing socks for the first time ever here in BW. I'm really not that happy about it though. My feet feel like they need to launch a Prison Break of their own, and these leather shoes I have on at the moment are just not cool. Not at all.

J1 is really turning african - complaining about the cold and running around crying about how "frozen" he is.... I find that funny coming from anyone who grew up in a country where there's actually snow in the winter. but yes, once you get used to the extreme heat here, you really do feel the cold. Also, the houses aren't built for winter, so it is often colder inside during the mornings, than it is outside.

I guess the main thing to keep in mind through all this is the benefits of a dry winter, which is great, not to mention the year-long sunshine. Really, what more could you ask for from winter?

Ireland (J1)

Thanks to our very good friends Scott and Linda, we have this nice little memory of Ireland on our front door. I finally put it up, after the landlord finished painting and fixing the door. I really like it. Thanks guys.

J1

Beers and steak (J1)

It is Monday morning, things are pretty quiet in the office, and it is hard to get started on things like accounts and stuff, much easier to write a little blog entry first. It is one of the first times we are actually pretty quiet in the office, when we first arrived there were deadlines everywhere, and after that we had a number of very big tenders, which have taken a lot of our time. Last week we submitted the last one of those, so we have to wait now. There are still a few small projects ongoing, to keep us busy and pay the bills, and I think we might as well enjoy this silence before a possible storm.

On Friday afternoon at 2 we decided to have 'a directors meeting' over lunch, and call it a day. That is the nice thing about owning your own business. When you are busy you might be working until late at night (which happened earlier that week), but when things are finished you can also go home early. By the way, I know I was going to put up a few pictures of our office. I will do this soon.

Our house had quite a number of snags, which the landlord has finally started to attend to. Doors and screens are being replaced, electrics checked (so we can cook in our oven again), plumbing repaired and the kitchen ceiling (nearly collapsed) repaired. And, just as these guys were working there, our water tank at our borehole started leaking. They are going to replace this as well.

What I did not mention, we have also started a gardener for 1 day per week, it is our neighbours gardener, who wanted to get a few extra Pulas during the weekend, and is now doing some weeding and cleaning up for us. The garden is starting to look much better already.

Yesterday we went for a nice long (3 hour) walk with some friends, we started in Gaborone and walked to Gabane, which is the place we first stayed. Gabane is a real African village, and we were quite the attraction as 5 white people walking through their village, all the kids were so friendly though. We went to a local bar there (with a Norwegian guy behind the bar, totally unexpected in such village) where we had a number of well deserved beer, and some really nice steaks and pap on their outside braais. After this we took a combi back to town. It was such a nice way to spend the Sunday afternoon, be active and then have a few drinks, and not be hanging out in the modern restaurants or bars in the big shopping malls, but in this small place in the village. Something worth repeating.

J1

In Doubt (J1)

After that great report on our Easter weekend by Jill, it is my turn again to share some experiences. And we do continue to experience the most amazing things, let me just start with last week Friday.

As we are living outside Gaborone, in Notwane, our area falls outside the city boundaries and within the so called 'South East district'. To get our household rubbish collected, you need to register with the district council, situated in Ramotswa, a town about 15 minutes driving from our house. We had not gotten around to this so far, and used the skip at the office to dispose of our waste, but Friday was the big day. It took me nearly all morning to get it organised, and involved three different offices at the district council. Real job creation there. But here is the most amazing thing: it costs us 60 Pula (less then 8 euros) to have our trash bag collected every Thursday morning FOR A WHOLE YEAR....How is that for value for money. Especially if you compare with Ireland, where it was costing us over 500 Euros).

In Jill's report about our Easter weekend, she forgot to mention one of our fun activities, we have bought a share in a kayak on the Gaborone dam, and took this out on the water on the Monday. Loads of fun, but we definitely need to train a lot to develop our shoulders....The boat house at the am has a little bar, with beautiful views, and definitely worth a visit.

We had our first visitor this weekend. Our good friend Jean from South Africa came over Saturday and Sunday, and we had lots of fun. On Sunday afternoon we climbed Kgale Hill again, and it is still an amazing experience having baboons all around you.

My job situation is not looking so good at the moment. The company I interviewed with over a month ago, and promised to make me an offer, have still not come through with anything. I rang them 2 weeks later, and they promised me I would hear from them that week. That was nearly 3 weeks ago now, and it is still quiet. I have been a little lazy, and have not actively looked for other opportunities. It really sounded like they were genuine, and we were very busy with our own business preparing tenders. Now I am in a doubtful situation: should I call them (again) to ask about their offer. And even more, if our company is successful with those tenders, we are going to be so busy, do I still want the job? But then again, award of tenders, especially for projects involving government departments, usually take a very long time, several months. In the meantime, I am not sure what to do. Let's just hope something will happen this week that will help me make up my mind.

J1

Easter Weekend Review

And what a weekend it was.

First of all, we desperately needed the break. Tendering for projects at work has been driving us up the walls over the last few weeks. We want the jobs, but we don't like bidding for them. Too many reports to write, too many quotations from subbies to get, and too many hectic hours behind the computer.

So we let loose for all it was worth with 2 days off over the easter break. Good Friday and Easter Monday are both public holidays here.

Friday was spent sleeping late, going for a scenic drive at the Gaborone park & picnic grounds (designed for humans but completely overrun by monkeys).

Other random spottings included these 3 little babies (Impala x 3), as well as some Eland and loads of wandering ostrich.

Had a lovely lunch at the Bull+Bush outside in their beer garden and ordered (gasp!) something other than their dreamy steaks. Peri-Peri Chicken and Schwarma instead.

Went for our usual Friday-sundowners at our favourite bar in the neighbourhood and finished the day off with a movie on TV.

Saturday was a day of rest as well, naturally. This time supplemented with some work around the house and a trip to the BSPCA to pick up our first Botswana charity cases... 2 small kittens in need of a foster home while they're too young for neutering and immunizations prior to going up for adoption. They're a lot of fun, and give the dogs some serious entertainment.

Sunday was extremely special as far as easters go. We were up at a ridiculously early hour to go rhino tracking with the stealthy Mpho and Tshepo from Mokolodi.

(Mpho's gun there, is actually there in case of any potential leopard "incident", not rhino)

This was a really special opportunity. They drove us out into the bush and we hopped out of the truck and Mpho used his uncanny ability to track these massive creatures and off we went on foot. It was incredible how close you can get to these monsters. Makes for great photographic opportunities, and really much more impressive than viewing game from the safety of a bakkie or a car, which we've done too many times now to really get a big rush from, unfortunately.

How does one track a rhino?

Simple....

*

spoor (big poop),

* bonus points here for photo of dung beetles...not doing what they do best (rolling their perfect little balls of poo), but rather: Fighting!

foot prints,

smell,

grass chewings,

sound (of massive feet pounding on the ground)

and...

it also helps if you can see their big butts poking out from behind the thorn trees.

We saw 8 out of the reported 10 in the area. The area, by the way, happens to be less than 3 kilometres from our house!

We finished the trek off with a picnic on the lake, where three hippos and a baby croc also happened to be hanging out. It was really relaxing and worth the hours of walking and whispering and spotting false alarms (monkeys? kudu? impala?).

Let's see... .what else....?

Monday night we enjoyed dinner at Spur and there was a marimba/xylophone duo there to do the dining music. Sweet! Then saw "The Last King of Scotland", which we both highly recommend for anyone interested in Africa or specifically Uganda in the '70s. Or if you just like scottish people for no apparent reason, of course.

Otherwise, we're busy cheering on the South Africans in the Cricket World Cup, but they appear to be letting us down significantly in these late stages. As soon as they bail out, I'm supporting New Zealand. Hannes is going to go for England. Laugh if you will.

In other news, babies are everywhere. The local baboons from our neighbourhood have given birth and we see the most adorable little kitten-sized guys running and jumping and climbing and generally creating nuiscance all along the main road to our house. They're funny now, and it's interesting to see them growing bigger every week. Lots of baby antelope in the parks as well, and one of the rhinos we were tracking on sunday is actually pregnant-- they gestate for 16 months. Ouch.

She's a BIG ol' girl.

Long Time No See... (J2)

Well it's been a long time since I've written in here and I suppose I better sort that out before the Mr. starts beating me for slacking off.

Firstly, things are going very well. Autumn is my favorite time of year and it's turning out to be very nice in Botswana. I've never had an autumn in BW before, only in South Africa and it appears that it'll be much warmer here, than there.

We have lovely cool mornings and evenings, but daytime temperatures in full sunshine are still quite hot. As in, you'll regret wearing a long-sleeved shirt, no matter how nice it feels in the morning. But long pants are still managable. It's just really great to sit outside on the hammock and read a travel magazine and hear the wind in the trees and even see some leaves changing colour (not many, but some trees like the peach tree are actually dropping their leaves. Otherwise the thorn trees are pretty boring, as far as autumn foliage goes).

Swimming is over, though.

Our new employee, Tutu is coming along just fine. I enjoy a bit more female company in the office and she's so able that sometimes I forget she's only a graduate.

Hannes is still in a grey area about this prospective engineering job that he interviewed for. They have had a second conversation on the phone recently, again the company is intending on hiring him, but apparently they're dragging their heels on making him a money offer (I reckon because they're waiting to see if they get a certain tender for a big job, but who knows). Which makes me secretly pleased, as I still don't like the idea of losing our No. 1 Office Manager!

We had a lovely weekend in Pretoria last week. It was exactly 3 hours and 15 minutes from the border post by our house, to the Polson's front door. Not bad at all. Jéan came up from Sunninghill to hang out with us on saturday and we got lots of shopping done for bits and pieces for the house.... really exciting stuff like curtains and ceiling fans. woo hoo!

I suppose the biggest development over the last week, however, was the official arrival of DSTV at the Westra house. Uh-oh.
Now we're back to a hundred channels including TEN sports networks (right in the midst of the Cricket World Cup, the start of the 2007 Formula 1, and Super 14 Rugby season!!!!!!) and a heap of international news channels. Whoops. There goes breakfast out on the stoep, and evenings of reading or sitting outside listening to the cow bells!

We must come up with a sustainable solution for this one. Figuring that one out is on the agenda.... right after this episode of Prison Break....

AAGHHH!